Traveling abroad with Green Card

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one who is not a US citizen has a right to stay in the USA, even with a green card. That’s common knowledge. The safest thing for those eligible is to naturalize of course. It’s just common sense.

Exactly you either become a citizen or not. A green card was never meant to be permanent it is a pathway to citizenship

According to USCIS website:

Having a Green Card (officially known as a Permanent Resident Card allows you to live and work permanently in the United States.

So green cards don’t expire?

Also, have you read the news lately?

So, I didn't know this, but most green cards do expire.

Green cards prior to 1989 don't.

https://theimmigrantsjournal.com/indefinite-green-cards-understanding-green-cards-without-expiration-dates-and-their-validity-today/#:~:text=Green%20Cards%20issued%20between%201977,to%20prevent%20fraud%20and%20counterfeiting.

I had a green card prior to 89 (issued in 1973). My family never renewed our GC, but we all eventually became citizens, but way after 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one in my circle (from Europe and east Asia, scientists and lawyers) are traveling out of the US on their green card, visa or diplomatic visa. Usually most people travel back to their home country for part of the summer, or at least send their kids. Not this year. We've all heard horrific stories of people in each of these categories who were rudely interrogated, detained, and sent back to their country. Two World Bank people I heard about had their diplomatic visas revoked *for no reason*.

We're staying right here.

Yep, my 19 year old got pull over by TSA going to Spain during spring break. He was born here (U.S. citizen).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every time someone has posted starting recently and started their post with the phrase "I'm an immigration lawyer", they showed their naivete... or worse, they lied knowingly, maybe to lull the American public into thinking their border officers are upstanding people.

Just so you know, 99.99% of people passing a border control check are incredibly polite. Why? Because the whole ordeal of passing a US border point, for a foreigner, is deliberately made to be intimidating. Even back in normal days, border control officers were always brusque and unsmiling at the best of times. I've lived in the US for years legally as a tax-paying visa-holder, and I've been witness to several insane encounters with border officers who yelled and spit at, and leveled accusations at the top of their voice, to well-behaved folks (some of them with kids) trying to cross a border - and not the southern border, to which I've never traveled. Dulles. Niagara Falls. Random border point in Vermont. That sort of border. I've been selected for secondary interviews and sat waiting for it with people from all over the world, regardless of ethnicity, age or sex. Some were mothers with newborns, some were really old people. My own courteous, elderly parents from Europe were once detained for 4 hours at Dulles, and at the end they were let go without an explanation. And all that was before the current administration.

Don't tell me it's all fine and dandy if you're polite, when I've seen otherwise with my own eyes. I am convinced that the sort of person who seeks a job as a border officer has an inner desire for hostile dominance of others. It's barely bridled when normal Presidents are in power. It must be completely unbridled now. Let it sink in that the border officer to whom you hand over your passport for the check has unlimited power over you. They have a bad day... and it's all over for you, no matter what you say or do.

+1 arbitrary nature of all this is what really freaks me out

[Anonymous]

Immigration lawyers are saying do not go.- green card, naturalized, etc.
If you are a US citizen you can be detained and your phone/computer can be searched. They will ask you to unlock your phone. A lot of people are taking burner phones for travel. If you use your regular phone, scrub the phone before travel- sign out of all accounts(email, text, apps) and delete apps.

Be smart. Do not trust Trump and the republicans. Even US citizens are having problems coming back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one in my circle (from Europe and east Asia, scientists and lawyers) are traveling out of the US on their green card, visa or diplomatic visa. Usually most people travel back to their home country for part of the summer, or at least send their kids. Not this year. We've all heard horrific stories of people in each of these categories who were rudely interrogated, detained, and sent back to their country. Two World Bank people I heard about had their diplomatic visas revoked *for no reason*.

We're staying right here.

It's crazy to be even thinking this way but agree it is the new reality. For example my relatives who are here legally but not citizens (green card and H1B) are postponing travel to India. Not worth the risk and they are hoping things are more stable in a year. Would be different if you had a pressing reason to go now though.

Also, I would advise taking a burner phone or deleting most apps off your phone. Honestly even as a US citizen I might do this. I truly would have never worried before (I was born here but am not white. I even used to work for the USG!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one who is not a US citizen has a right to stay in the USA, even with a green card. That’s common knowledge. The safest thing for those eligible is to naturalize of course. It’s just common sense.

I wish I could count all the ways you can f--- all the way off.

PP here. Why would you say that? What is your background? What I said is 100% true from a legal perspective. Sorry if you’re offended. Non Americans do not have any right to be in the USA, just as Americans don’t have a right to be in any other country.

NP here. A green card stands for permanent residency. Permanent! This means a person must go through vetting, after vetting after vetting to get a green card. They go through multiple interviews, fingerprinting, etc. There’s a reason it’s permanent!

It is not permanent. I know someone who got deported. You think you know something but you clearly have no first hand experience. You can have your green card taken away.

I don't know if the PP that said "no right to be here" was trying to be a jerk but bluntly they are correct. That is literally what people at the top in this Administration are saying. It doesn't matter what process you went through. It is different to be a citizen versus not. My own mom had a green card for several decades because she had reasons for maintaining her other citizenship and dual was not available. So I'm not anti immigrant or something. But I would never advise that today.